I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 4-6.

From the list of King Solomon’s officials we learn that King Solomon formally delegated governing Israel to subordinates. These officials almost certainly had other officials reporting to them. In yesterday’s passage, King Solomon eliminated the various power bases which King David had spent his reign balancing. In their place he set up officials and governors whose power derived from King Solomon. All of this demonstrates Solomon’s wisdom. King David had conquered most of the surrounding lands. King Solomon established a system of government which allowed him to use the wealth of these lands to begin building projects. In discussing King Solomon’s wisdom and knowledge the writer mentions that he composed a large number of proverbs and wrote a large number of songs. I am sure that some of those proverbs were designed to give guidance to the officials and judges who served under Solomon.

In describing King Solomon’s wisdom and fame, the author uses language which is reminiscent of myths, legends, and tall-tales. I am not saying that King Solomon was not that wise, merely that the writer is using the language used in those sorts of stories to quickly convey Solomon’s great wisdom before moving on to talk about his actual actions. I mention this to contrast it with the precision the writer uses to describe the year in which construction began on the Temple. He writes that Temple construction began in the 4th year of Solomon’s reign, 480 years after the Israelites left Egypt. This gives us a hard and fast date from which we can figure out when everything that happened before this occurred. Of course, the problem we have is that we cannot be sure when King Solomon built the Temple.